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B.M.F 12-05-2009 07:45 PM

constructive criticism
 
Hi everyone
I was talking to a guy at my gym the other day and he asked if I always do the same routine and my answer was ya pretty much, and he offered some advice as to how he trains, and he mixes it up quite a bit, but this guy is in really good shape by the looks of it, he's not a big body guy but hes like 5'5" and 163 pounds but the guys arms seem like there twice the size of mine and I'm 6'0" 195. I guess I was just wondering what you guys think of my routine I do Lower body monday and thursday then I do upper body Tuesday and Friday.

I eat every 3 hours religiously 30-40 grams of protein and 50- 75 grams of carbs. 5 times a day

upper body:
seated row pull back
free weight incline press
seated chest fly (cable machine)
dumbell hammer curls (I have a wrist injury so this is the only comfortable way for me to do them).
seated dumbell tricep raises
shrugs
lat raises on machine
ab crunches on the 45 degree bench with 25 pound bag

Lower body:
seated leg press
calf raises on same machine
(on machines)
leg curl
leg extension
abductor
adductor
hanging knee raises W/leg weights
just recently I've added squats after reading some useful info on this site. I 'm pretty much just getting my form down. I've been doing them for probably a month. and my last work out I added dead lifts.

I do 3 sets of 7-12 reps when I'm able to hit 12's I move up in weight and go back to 7's, so on monday I'm doing 7's then on thursday if I made all 7's I go to 8's just to clarify.
I also do 20-25 minutes of cardio on an elliptical all 4 days.

My main goals are to gain strength and to put on more size I'd like to be at 225lbs I've been going strong since about the end of september I didn't go to the gym this summer cause I was out of state and my family and I spent alot of time out doors camping riding atv's and staying active.

The most I ever weighed was 197 last december. I just quit smoking on November 4 and haven't looked back. I gained 5 pounds and I don't know how much fat I lost.

any advice is welcome I'm willing to tryany thing to meet my goals thanks guys
:squat2:

Kane 12-07-2009 05:09 AM

If you're main goal is strength you won't find much of that with this routine.

7-12reps is not a very good range for strength, that is more for hypertrophy than anything. If you want strength then you should be aiming for 1-3 reps per set, but 1-5 reps will work also. This isn't to say you have to use 1-5 reps for EVERYTHING! You can use that for the first compound (freeweight) exercise you use and then go back to your 3x7-12 on the other exercises.

The one obvious thing I see with your current routine is the reliance on machines. 50% of your upper day is spent on a machine and 100% of your lower day is on a machine.

My advice is to cut down on the machines. BB rows instead of seated rows, instead of leg curls do some supine GHRs, GHRs, or some SLDLs, etc..

A couple of things I also noticed were 1) No deadlifting and 2) No vertical pulls. Its okay if you don't like deadlifting and that's why it isn't here, but I would include it otherwise. On one lower day (Mon) you can deadlift, on the next lower day (Thurs) you can squat. With the vertical pulls, add in some pullups (not pulldowns) and/or chinups.

B.M.F 12-07-2009 06:55 PM

cool thanks for the feed back, couple of questions for you, so your saying to do a first set of 1-3 or 1-5 reps at like 90-95% then go on to my main workout, so would I bump up the weight on that first set when I move up on my regular routine? for example I'm doing 3x9 of 135lbs on free weight incline press, and its hard for me to get those last few reps so should I add like 10 extra pounds on the first strength set? and then If I'm gonna do pull ups should I just eliminate rows all together since I'm using pretty much the same muscles?
Also on my legs days I've been doing squats but I'm pretty much just getting my form down so I do a maintenance set of leg presses 2x7 of 615lbs then do my 3x?'s of squats, today was my second day of dead lifts needless to say that I'm not doing alot of weight but just trying to develop some good fundamentals, I had the trainer at the gym tell me what I'm doing wrong. thanks again for the response good stuff.

Kane 12-08-2009 04:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by B.M.F (Post 83732)
cool thanks for the feed back, couple of questions for you, so your saying to do a first set of 1-3 or 1-5 reps at like 90-95% then go on to my main workout, so would I bump up the weight on that first set when I move up on my regular routine? for example I'm doing 3x9 of 135lbs on free weight incline press, and its hard for me to get those last few reps so should I add like 10 extra pounds on the first strength set?

What I mean is that the first exercise, not set, is done with 1-3 or 1-5 reps. So for your incline press you might end up doing 4 sets of 3 and then that's it for incline press, you may include a higher density 'backoff' set. That would mean 4 sets of 3 and then maybe 1 set of 6-10.

A single set at the start of the workout won't do much to increase your strength, if anything I think it would only serve as a brief period of acclimation. Which brings me to this, make sure your warmup is correct. There is a sticky or something on this site about how to properly warm up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by B.M.F (Post 83732)
and then If I'm gonna do pull ups should I just eliminate rows all together since I'm using pretty much the same muscles?

Pullups and rows, imo, should be done in any routine. Instead of thinking of them in terms of muscles, think in terms of movement. Rows are horizontal, pullups are vertical. Rows balance with bench, pullups balance with military press. Basically external rotation of the shoulder. There is an overlap of the muscles involved though, just like everything else.

If you think of how they translate to the heavy movements, squats, bench and deadlifts all rely on upper back stability. You need lats for that, they help stabilize the thoracic spine. Rows are not the best lat developer.

Pullups are also good for the lower trap function and rows are good for scapula function. So they double as a sort of prehab or as a way to help fix a dysfunction or imbalance.

You can do them both on separate days to avoid the overlap. Tuesday Upper you can do Pullups, Friday Upper you can do Rows.

If you want more info on pullups/vertical pulling, I have a blog post on them: Pullups and Chinups Blog Post

Quote:

Originally Posted by B.M.F (Post 83732)
Also on my legs days I've been doing squats but I'm pretty much just getting my form down so I do a maintenance set of leg presses 2x7 of 615lbs then do my 3x?'s of squats, today was my second day of dead lifts needless to say that I'm not doing alot of weight but just trying to develop some good fundamentals, I had the trainer at the gym tell me what I'm doing wrong. thanks again for the response good stuff.

That's good. Take your time, get your form down and get comfortable with those exercises, especially deadlifts, you may regret it if you don't. :D

iron_worker 12-08-2009 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kane (Post 83739)


You need lats for that, they help stabilize the thoracic spine. Rows are not the best lat developer.


What do you recommend for a good lat developer? I could use some lats. lol

BTW, nice work taking the time to explain the basics. ...OP, take this shit in. Read it, read it again, understand it. Kane knows his shit.

IW

Kane 12-08-2009 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iron_worker (Post 83746)
What do you recommend for a good lat developer? I could use some lats. lol

BTW, nice work taking the time to explain the basics. ...OP, take this shit in. Read it, read it again, understand it. Kane knows his shit.

IW

Wide grip Pullups. Similar width to having your hands at the end of the pulldown bar. Once you can do bodyweight sets, move on to weighted sets.

BUT I recommend using close grip pullups (just outside shoulder width) and chinups as well.

I also use different rep and weight ranges for each mesocycle. One cycle I'll do high rep WG Pullups, CG Pullups using clusters, or heavy triples for pullups. Next cycle I'll switch to clustered WG Pullups, High rep chins or CG pullup triples. Basically there are two exercises that are either low density, clusters, or volume.

And Thank You!

iron_worker 12-08-2009 12:06 PM

Ah yes. Well I do wide grip pull ups as well. Sometimes if my shoulders aren't feeling it I'll switch to chins or if I want to blast the biceps a bit more.

I think I need to switch to weighted pull ups soon.

IW

Pitysister 12-08-2009 01:55 PM

you can always throw up videos on here for form checks.

_Wolf_ 12-08-2009 05:44 PM

Kane does know his stuff. Great job explaining the basics right there.

B.M.F 12-08-2009 07:19 PM

I guess I never looked at it as balancing the other exercises, I have always just looked at areas worked on the body but that makes complete sense. I'm thinking that will probably help out my incline quite a bit too because I always seem to struggle to get alot of reps out of that one for some reason, and it also makes sense for me to stay in the strength reps for that same reason. once again thanks man I feel like I should be paying you for advice like that.


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